Autodoffing machine in a ring spinning machine



July 30, 1968 TAKASHI MORIKAWA ET AL 3,394,539

AUTODOFFING MACHINE IN A RING SPINNING MACHINE Filed July 20, 1964 I 12 Shgets-Sheet 1 Fly an U

'lllllllllziluilia INVENTORS BYMW A ATTORNEYS y 0, 1968 TAKASHI MORIKAWA E AL 3,394,539

AUIODOFFING MACHINE IN A RING SPINNING MACHINE Filed July 20, 1964 12 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR 5 Y W eewfiwmmm y 1953 TAKASHI MORIKAWA E AL 3,394,539

AUTODOFFING MACHIN" IN A RING SPINNING MACHINE 12 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Ju ly 20, 1964 Fig 3' mvsmons BYu) 31 4 MM ATTORNEYS y 30, 1963 TAKASHI MORIKAWA E L 3,394,539

AUTODOFFING MACHINE IN A RING SPINNING MACHINE Filed July 20, 1964 12 Sheets-Sheet 4 BY wlw mmzvs w I n 6 fl mvsN-rom y 30, 1968 TAKASHI MORIK AWA ET A 3,394,539

AUTODOFFING MACHINE IN A RING SPINNING MACHINE Filed July 20, 1964 12 Sheets-Sheet a July 30, 1968 TAKA5H| MQRIKAWA ET AL 3,394,539

AUTODOFFING MACHINE IN A RING SPINNING MACHINE Filed July 20, 1964 12 She ets-Sheet a F/g l0 5? M, Ma I 59 M M4 mvzu-roas 4 M ATTORNEY! y 30, 1968 TAKASHI MORIKAWA E AL 3,394,539'

AUTODOFFING MACHINE IN A RING SPINNING MACHINE Filed July 20, 1964 12 Sheets-Sheet 7 $54, 4441 T'IORNEYg y 19168- TAKASHl-MORIKAWA E 3,394,539

AUTODOFFING MACHINE IN A RING SPINNING MACHINE Filed July 20, 1964 12 Sheets-Sheet a INVENTORS July 30, 1968 TAKABHI MORIKAWA ETQAI- 3,394,539

AUTODOFFING MACHINE IN A RING SPINNING MACHINE Filed July 20, 1964 12 Sheets-Sheet 9 INVENTOR ATTORNEY July 30, 1968 TAKASHI MORIKAWA E 3,394,539

AUTODOFFING MACHINE INA RING SPINNING MACHINE Filed July 20, 1964 12 Sheets5heet 10 UPUU BY MAM I 7.45.1 ATTORNEY:

y 30, 1968 TAKASHI MORIKAWA ET AL 3,394,539

AUTODOFFING MACHINE IN A RING SPINNING MACHINE Filed July 20, 1964 12 Sheets-Sheet 11 INVENTORS BY $00M :6! d M ATTORNEYS July 30, 1968 TAKA'SHI MOIQIKAWA 3,394,539

AUTODOFFING MACHINE IN A RING SPINNING MACHINE l2 Sheets-Sheet 12 Filed July 20, 1964 4:4, 3w! ATTORNEY;

United States Patent 3,394,539 AUTODOFFING MACHINE IN A RING SPINNING MACHINE Takashi Morikawa, Hyogo-ken, Aritsune Moriyama, Osaka-fu, Eiichi Yagita, Wakayama-ken, and Chu Ikutani, Nara-ken, Japan, assignors to Daiwa Boseki Kabushiki Kaisha, Osaka, and Itami Machine Works, Limited, Hyogo-ken, Japan, both corporations of Japan Filed July 20, 1964, Ser. No. 383,874 Claims priority, application Japan, July 22, 1963, 38/39,292; Mar. 26, 1964, 39/17,195 Claims. (Cl. 5753) This invention relates to an autodofiing machine in a ring spinning machine, twisting machine and other similar machines.

Although numerous autodofiing machines have been developed to date, few can be used immediately in the spinning machines now in operation. Further it is common of the known autodofling machines that their operation is complicated, and also in order to use the machines the costs involved in the conversion of the spinning machine and installation thereto of the machines considerable. In addition, the management of the autodoffing machines was difiicult. In view of the foregoing reasons, these machines are not in wide use as yet.

According to the present invention there is provided a bobbin autodofiing machine adapted to travel step-bystep along the front of a spinning machine, twisting machine or the like, for doffing a group of fully-wound bobibns from a group of spindles and mounting a group of empty bobbins on such group of spindles, said autodofiing machine comprising means for manipulating the yarn, means for severing the end yarn, means for kicking up fully-wound bobbins, means for making preparatory arrangement of empty bobbins, means for delivering empty bobbins, means for holding empty bobbins, and means for mounting empty bobbins, a bobbin case being disposed below said means for extracting bobbins, and means for gently placing said fully-wound bobbins in said case, said last mentioned means comprises a plurality of flexible elements hung downwardly into said bobbin case and loosely drawn towards one another in pairs at the bottom, and means for winding up said flexible elements step-by-step as the case is filled up. In the above machine, the means for manipulating the yarn is to manipulate the yarn toward a spinning machine when extracting bobbins, the means for severing the end yarn is to cut end yarns of the extracted full bobbins, the means for kicking up fullwound bobbins is to loosen from spindles the full bobbins to be extracted, the means for making a preparatory arrangement of empty bobbins is to arrange the empty bobbins to be supplied to the spindles in a certain direction, the means for delivering empty bobbins is to deliver the empty bobbins to be supplied to the spindles one by one to bobbin holding members, the means for holding empty bobbins is to hold the bobbins within the bobbin holding members, the means for mounting empty bobbins is to transmit the bobbin holding members toward the spindles, to release the bobbins from said members and to mount them on the spindles, and the means for gently placing full-wound bobbins is to discharge the dotted full bobbins to'a bobbin case without damaging the yarn or thread wound thereon.

Accordingly, this invention has improved on the various defects of the autodofiing machines which have been developed to date and makes possible the immediate use of the machine with the spinning machines now in operation. Since the construction of the invention autodoffing machine is very simple the expenses involved in the conversion of the spinning machines now in operation and installation thereto of this autodotfing machine can be accomplished at low cost.

As principal features of the invention, the following can be given: First, since the travel of the autodofiing machine is not, as heretofore, by means of the engagement of a rack provided in the spinning machine and a pinion in the dofling machine but by the doffing machine traveling over a single guide rail of the spinning machine by its wheels being driven, the autodofiing machine can travel horizontally at its established height irrespective of the unevenness of the floor of the room housing the spinning machines. Secondly, the autodofiing machine is provided with means for loosening the full bobbins from the spindles when dismounting the bobbins, this loosening means also being so adapted to catch the lower end of the empty bobbins when the empty bobbins fall by gravity for impalement on the spindles, and thus prevent damage to the lower end of the bobbins as well as preclude the breakage of the spun yarn at this time. Further, this machine is provided with a most simple means for arranging the doffed full-wound bobbins in a bobbin case, with the consequence that the yarn wound on the bobbins is not damaged. In practice, these are most desirable features for an autodoffing machine to possess.

Although a preferred embodiment of the invention will be described herein with reference to the accompanying drawing, it is not intended to limit the invention to the embodiment illustrated and described but to include all variations and modifications Within the spirit of the invention and scope of the appended claims.

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of an autodoifing machine; FIG. 2 being a rear view thereof; FIG. 3, a right side view; FIG. 4, a left side view; and FIG. 5, a right side view showing the interior of the machine.

FIG. 6 is a simplified plan view illustrating the machine in use; FIG. 7 being a front elevation thereof; FIG. 8, a simplified perspective view of the means for stopping the machine at the prescribed position; and FIG. 9, a simplified perspective view of the means for controlling the level of the machine.

FIGS. 10-24 illustrate the various means that have been installed in the autodoffing machine; FIG. 10 being a side view of the means for kicking up the full-wound bobbins; FIGS. 11 and 12 being perspective views of the means for dismounting the full-wound bobbins; FIG. 13, a side view of the means for manipulating the yarn; FIG. 14, a perspective view of the means for severing the fining yarn; FIG. 15, a front elevation of the means for arranging the full-wound bobbins; FIG. 16, a side view thereof; FIG. 17, a plan view of the means for making preparatory arrangement of the empty bobbins; FIG. 18, a side view thereof in vertical section; FIG. 19, a front elevation in vertical section of the means for delivering the empty bobbins; FIG. 20, a side view in vertical section thereof; FIG. 21, a plan view of the means for holding the empty bobbins; FIG. 22, a front elevation in vertical section thereof; FIG. 23 a perspecttive view of the means for impaling the empty bobbins; and FIG. 24, a perspective view of the means for oscillating a lift-ing lever.

Autodoffing machines 1 shown in FIGS. 1-5 are mounted on two sides of carriage 2 shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 and conveyed to the gear or outer end of a spinning machine 3 requiring the exchange of bobbins. After bringing the fixed rails 4 of carriage 2 in alignment with the guide rails 5 of spinning machine 3, the driving wheels 6 of the aut-odofling machine 1 are rotated to effect the transfer of the autodofiing machines 1 from fixed rails 4 of carriage 2 to the guide rails 5 of spinning machine 3 and cause the autodoffing machines 1 to travel over the latter rails.

Means for stopping the autodofling machine at prescribed position The means for stopping the autodoffing machine (ADM) at prescribed positions, the mechanism of which is shown in FIG. 8, is for stopping ADM accurately and with certainty at the prescribed positions after travelling a given distance. When ADM, which being mounted on guide rail disposed in front of the Spinning machine in parallel with the line of spindles, travels by means of the rotation of driving wheels 6 along the line of spindles of the spinning machine and approaches the prescribed position at which it is to stop, a recess 11 in a disk 9 of ADM having a plurality of recesses 11 slips at an angle of 45 degrees around pins 19 disposed along the side of the guide rail at given intervals and thus the recess containing disk 9 rotates about 45 degrees around shaft 26 while recess 11 slips relative to pin 19. When the disk 9 rotates, a gear 29 secured to the same shaft 26 on which said disk 9 is fitted also rotates and by rotation of gears engaging with said gear 29 operates limit switches LS1 and LS2 successively and stops the ADM.

The means for stopping the machine at prescribed positions, as provided in the invention ADM will now be further described as to its operation with reference to FIG. 8.

When the driving switch (not shown) of ADM is turned on, the driving motor is rotated and the starting switch (not shown) is turned on. Then, through the medium of S011 the movable clutch 13 is moved over to the left side thereby engaging clutch 13 with the clutch face of gear 14 to rotate driving wheel 6 and effect the travel of ADM along guide rail 5. During the travel of ADM, recessed disk 9 has a ball stopper 22 in engagement with rounded recess (not shown) disposed at four places in said disk 9 at 90 angular intervals in a position opposite to the stopper 22, whereby said disk 9 is held stopped with the four recesses 11 of the disk respectively inclined at an angle of about 45 degrees to the vertical, and thus it enables the pins 19 provided on guide rail 5 to enter the openings of recesses 11 during the travel of the ADM and the disk 9 is resiliently stopped by the spring biased stopper 22. Upon movement of the ADM, recesses 11 of said disk 9 first engage the pins 19 at an angle of 45 degrees and as the ADM travels said disk 9 starts angular displacement against the biasing action of a spring 25 of the ball stopper 22. Thus, the recesses 11 of said disk 9 engage with the pins 19 during the progress of the ADM and the disk 9 is angularly displaced (about 45 degrees) so that the recess is about perpendicular to the rail. Meanwhile the gear 29 fixed to a shaft 26 of said disk 9 also rotates together with the shaft 26 to rotate gears engaging with said gear 29 and first of all operates a limit switch (LS1). S0l1 is energized by the operation of LS1, and a driving clutch 13 of a driving wheel 6 which supplies the driving force for the travel of the ADM is disengaged by S011, and simultaneously said clutch 13 is shifted to the right side to rotate a dofling shaft which is provided with a doffing operation clutch 8 (see also FIG. 3).

At this instant, one of the stop holes 27 provided in disk 9 is positioned immediately before the tip of a stop pin 21. ADM, which has been cutoff its driving source, continues by means of its invertial energy to travel slowly and upon stop pin 21, which presses against disk 9 by means of the biasing action of spring 28, being thrusted into stop hole 27, ADM comes to a complete stop at its prescribed position.

Limit switch LS2 detects the thrusting of stop pin 21 into stop hole 27 by means of a suitable interlocking means. Accordingly, the dofiing operation clutch 8 (FIG. 3) is actuated to transmit the driving force from the doffing shaft 15 to the doffing drive shaft 15'. Thus, the dolfing operation of the ADM starts. S0l2 receives an order from a separately provided limit switch (not shown) at a suitable place on the ADM to indicate that the doffing and mounting operation has been completed, and said S012 removes a stop pin 21 from a stop hole 27 against the biasing action of a spring 28, whereupon the limit switch LS2 opens and S011 is actuated to shift a movable clutch 13 to the left side thereby rotating a driving wheel 6 to cause the ADM to resume its travel. As the ADM starts travelling, the disk 9 is again displaced in the same direction as before by about 45 degrees because of the fixed pin 19 sliding in the recess 11, and when the pin 19 leaves the recess 11, a stopper engages with said disk 9 as it is being displaced, and the ADM continues to travel until the next fixed pin 19 enters a recess 11 of said disk 9.

Since the main motor 10 is in constant rotation, the gears 17, 18, worm 19a, worm wheel 20, and the movable clutch 13 slidably mounted on shafts 12 and 16 also rotate constantly. On the other hand, worm 24, which meshes with gear 23 secured to the dofiing shafts 15, is mounted on shaft 16 at a fixed position in an idling state, and similarly gear 14, which transmits rotation to driving wheel 6, is also fitted to its shaft 12 in an idling state. Thus, both worm 24 and gear 14 are so adapted to be transmitted rotationally by means of movable clutch 13.

In the figure, limit switch LS3 closes by the rotation of gear 30 via shaft 26 and has as its purpose to detect the number of doffings performed, i.e., the number of times ADM has stopped at its prescribed stopping position, and to give orders to the memory means (not shown). For example in the case of a 400-spindle spinning machine, when the doffing of 200 spindles on one side has been completed, i.e., by doifing l0 spindles each time for 20 times, an order is given to reverse the rotation of motor 10, thereby reversing the travel of ADM.

Level controlling means A level controlling means is provided in ADM for rectifying the relative positions between the spinning machine and ADM so as to make it possible for the doffing operation to be carried out properly when ADM has come to a stop at its doffing position in those cases where there is a relative difference in the height between the guide rail disposed along the front of the spinning machine and the floor over which wheels 32 of ADM travel. For this purpose, a guide rod 31 is installed in parallel with guide rail 5 spaced apart from and above the latter. (See FIG. 9.) ADM being supported by driving wheels 6 mounted on guide rail 5 and wheels 32 which travel over the floor, travels with guide rail 5 as a base. The shafts of wheels 32 of ADM which travel over the floor, connect with pistons of cylinder 33 and are so adapted by means of hydraulic pressure exerted on cylinders 33 to make contact with the floor with the length of the shafts contracting or extending in conformance with the height of the floor. Cylinders 33 are connected with pipe 34, rotating or shifting valve mechanism 35 and level detecting levers 36. The distal portion of detecting levers 36 fit over guide rod 31 in such a manner as to be slidable over said rod 31.

Valve mechanism 35 is in direct communication with oil tank 39 via pipe 37. On the other hand, it also communicates with oil tank 39 via pipe 38 with a pump 40 intervening. Further, a pipe 41 branched from pipe 38 communicates with the oil tank with a relief valve 42 intervening. Hence, the oil tank delivers at all times oil under suitable pressure to valve 35 via pipe 38 by means of relief valve 42. Valve 35 is provided with communications with three places-one being with cylinder 33 via of pipe 34 and the others being with the oil tank via pipes 37 and 38-and it is so adapted that when detecting lever 36 moves from its proper position, arm 43 turns to open the communicating part to pipe 34 and either oil under pressure is fed to cylinder 33 via pipe 38 or the oil under pressure of the cylinder is discharged to the oil tank via pipe 37.

Now, supposing that the floor happens to be elevated with respect to guide rail 5, then with wheel 6 on top of guide rail 5 as the turning point that part of ADM upwards of that point will incline towards guide rod 31. Thereupon the rotating or shifting valve mechanism 35 is turned by means of the detecting lever 36 riding on top of guide rod 31 to cause the oil in cylinder 33 to flow out into oil tank 39 via pipe 34, thereby retracting wheel 32, which travels over the floor, with the consequence that the position of ADM is rectified, whereupon the detecting lever 36 and the rotating or shifting valve mechanism 35 revert to their normal positions. On the other hand, when the converse happens, i.e., when the floor becomes lower with respect to guide rail 5, with wheel 6 on top of guide rail 5 as the turning point that part of ADM upwards of that point will incline to that side opposite to that of guide rod 31. Thereupon the rotating or shifting valve mechanism is turned to the opposite side from the mentioned hereinabove by means of detecting lever 36 riding on top of guide rod 31 to cause the oil under pressure delivered from hydraulic pump 40 to fiow into the top part of cylinder 33, thereby intending 32, which travel over the floor, downwardly, with the consequence that the position of ADM is rectified whereupon the detecting lever 36 and rotating or shifting valve mechanism 35 revert to their proper positions.

- Thus, ADM is able to maintain itself in a level position no matter how uneven the floor may be.

Bobbin kicking up mea'ns As the bobbin chucking means must be provided with a considerably strong chucking force in order to pull off without assistance the full wound bobbins A from spindles 51 on which they are impaled, a bobbin kicking up means, as illustrated in FIG. 10, is used whereby the fit between the base 52 of the spindle and the bobbin bottom is loosened and picked up to simplify the extraction of the bobbins. As shown in FIG. the bobbin kicking up means consists of a kicker shaft 53 which makes to-andfro movements between the 2-dot-and-dash line and real line, to which are secured a plurality of kickers 54 and at least one kick lever 55, and to which kick lever 55 are loosely fitted whorl pressers equal in number to kickers 54. The whorl pressers have at their front ends whorl hooks 56 and at their rear ends hook tails 57, and the latter at their ends are biased with springs 59. Hence, hook tails 57 are pulled downwardly perpendicularly during the travel of ADM.

The full-wound bobbin kicking up means of the hereinabove described construction works in the following manner. When ADM stops at its prescribed stopping position, kicker shaft 53 moves forward from its 53 position to 53 position under the action of a segment gear 63' (FIG. 5) and by means of its kicker part 54 loosens the tight fit between bobbins A and spindle bases 52. Simultaneously, hook tails 57, which had been pulled downwardly perpendicularly (position 57') by means of springs 59 make abuttable contact with guide rod 31 provided in the spinning machine. As kick shaft 53 proceeds in its forward movement, the hook tails 57 change their position against the biasing action of springs 59 and the whorl hooks 56 of the whorl pressers assume the state wherein they are pressing against whorls 58 of spindles 52. When kicker shaft 53 moves forward to its prescribed position, a lever 61 having a cam ball 60 pivots by transmission of a pivoting motion from the drive by means not shown about a shaft 62, and as shown by means of the dot-and-dash line, depresses the kick lever to position 55, whereby the kicker part turns upwardly to position 54' to kick up full-wound bobbin A to the A position, in which state the kicker part remains awaiting the impalement of an empty bobbin.

The tendency of the spindle whorls 58 to rise along with bobbins A during the action of kicking up the bobbins as hereinbefore described is restrained by the whorl hooks 56 and the rising force of spindle whorls 58 is transmitted to hook tails 57 to be transferred to and absorbed by rod 31 provided in the spinning machine. Since a part of the kicking up force exerted by the kickers in kicking up the full wound bobbins is absorbed by rod 31 by means of this action, the force that falls on the kick lever can be reduced.

Full-wound bobbin extraction means The means for extracting the full-wound bobbins as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, is for pulling off the bobbins from the spindles and conveying them to a prescribed position. Sliding members 72 and 73 disposed in parallel one on top of the other are held in a chucking head with the respective members being biased by means of springs 74 and 75 from the opposite directions. The sliding members 72 and 73 are provided respectively with chucking members 76 and 77 to which ends are affixed elastic pieces 78 and 79. The sliding members 72, 73 along with a clapping arm 82 are mounted in the aforesaid chucking head 80 and are so adapted that by pulling a wire 71 attached to the pivotal point of said arm the chucking members 76, 77 approach each other to chuck the top of the bobbins at two points. By this 2-point chucking, the full wound bobbin can be swung while held in this manner and moreover since the chucking is by means of an elastic member, the chucking can be carried out with certainty even though there may exist errors in the diameter of the bobbins and spindle pitch.

Further, these chucking heads 80 can carry out an arcuate movement indicated by the line a when a fourmember linkage 81 is swung by an angular rotating shaft 180 by the action of a cam 183 fixed to a rotating shaft driven from the dofiing driving shaft 15 and the action of a cam lever 89 engaging therewith, and also the chucking heads 80 are made to move to-and-fro by the action of a cam 182 fixed to a shaft 90 and of a lever 89". By the combination of these movements the extraction of full-wound bobbins is conducted.

The full-wound bobbin whose top end has been gripped from two sides by means of the foregoing chucking members 76, 77 is pulled olf the spindle by the arcuate action of the 4-member linkage 81, retracted by means of a suitable mechanism, then its bottom end is swung by means of a yarn manipulating means (hereinafter described) and thereafter lowered by means of the 4-member linkage 81 and conveyed to the full-wound bobbin arranging mechanism (hereinafter described).

Yarn manipulating means The yarn manipulating means, as shown in FIG. 13, is for preventing during the extraction of the full-wound yarn the breakage of the yarn which stretches from the front roller to the traveller and the bobbin via the snail wire or yarn guide 105 having a tab 106 (FIG. 14) on the spinning frame.

A rotating shaft 92 of a lever 91 is arranged hori zontally within the ADM, and at one end of the rotating shaft 92 there is a cam lever 96 equipped with a portion 94 urged against an edge of a cam 95, and at the tip of the lever 91 there is a rod 93 parallel with a chucking head. When the cam 9-5 rotates, the rod 93 swings about the shaft 92 as a fulcrum. Said cam 95 is driven from the dofiing driving shaft 15' by shafts (not shown). Said lever 91 when in the position indicated by the solid line pushes the spun yarns to the side of the spinning machine, in which condition the aforementioned full-wound bobbin extraction means is actuated to extract the full-wound bobbins. When the full-wound bobbins are pulled up, the bobbins swing to a position indicated by the reference numeral 93 and the lower portions of the full-wound bobbins are pushed by said rod 93 to incline said bobbins and introduce them gently into a full-wound bobbin arranging means described later.

End yarn serving means The full-wound bobbins which are transferred from the spindles 51 to a position above a plate 112 above a container to be described by the afore-mentioned fullwound bobbin extraction means have their end yarns connected with spindles. An end yarn severing means adapted to sever these end yarns and for holding the severed end yarns until empty bobbins are inserted over the spindles 51 is shown in FIG. 14. The extracted fullwound bobbins and the yarns connected with the spindles 51 are positioned over the suction holes 103 of a pneumatic pipe positioned on the ADM in the middle of a pair of thread guides or yarn guides 101, 101', one on the ADM and the other on the frame 3. The end yarns are held by the suction action of the suction holes 103 and at the same time the end yarns are cut by cutters 104 rotating at a high speed and positioned between said pneumatic pipe 102 and one guide 101 and remain on the side of spindles 51 are held lightly by the suction action of the suction holes 103 until the empty bobbins are positioned on the spindles 51, thereby preventing the yarns from coming off the traveler.

Full-wound bobbin arranging means If the arrangement of the doffed full wound bobbins in its case is haphazard, the bobbin case for receiving the bobbins must be made unnecessarily large and hence would be an impediment to the rationalization of the automatic dofiin-g process. Accordingly, a bobbin arrangement means, as illustrated in FIGS. 15 and 16, is provided. Roughly this mechanism comprises an assembly consisting of a pair of sheets 115, 115 to which bottom ends are installed magnets 116, 116 of unlike polarity. Plates 112 equal in number to the pairs of sheets are disposed horizontally above the sheets, the plates being attached as to be rotatable to a rod 114 which makes reciprocative movements horizontally by means of the operation of a solenoid.

The full-wound bobbins, which having been chucked between bobbin chucking members 76, 77, conveyed and dropped above the full-wound bobbin case 111, first are placed horizontally on top of plates 112, following which they are dropped between the sheets 115, 115 as a result of the plates 112 having been rotated by way of rod 114 by means of the operation of solenoid 113. Said solenoid 113 is actuated by an order from a limit switch (not shown) which perceives the completion of the doffing operation. The full-wound bobbins then while pushing the magnets 116, 116 apart drop into the fullwound bobbin case 111. As the falling speed of the bobbins are retarded when they are pushing magnets 116, 116' apart, the bobbins which drop into the bobbin case are arranged therein as if they were placed there gently.

As described before, the full-wound bobbins on plates 112 pass between sheets 115, 115 by the simultaneous movements of said plates 112 and fall into a case 111. Each time the bobbins fall another motor (not shown) rotates, by which movement a wind-{up roller 117 is rotated by way of a chain 118 and the sheets 115, 115 are sequentially wound up. The reference numeral 117 shows a roller pressing on the roller 117'. When the dofiing of all the full-wound bobbins on one side of a spinning machine has been completed, only the arranged full-wound bobbins remain in the case 111, and the sheets 115, 115 are wound up on the circumference of the wind-up roller 117, the bottom end portion thereof being positioned on the upper side of the case 111. Accordingly, it is easy to take the case 111 which has received the full bobbins out of the ADM. When sheets are used, the sheets that are adjacent to that of a neighboring pair of sheets must be wound up on separate windup rollers 117', but when the foregoing cords are used, the row of cords that are adjacent to that of a neighboring pair of rows of cords can be wound up on a single wound up roller each time a full bobbin passes.

Empty 0r bare bobbin impaling means The arrangement of the empty bobbins is carried out by a means shown in FIGS. 17 and 18. This means sup plies the empty bobbins in the same direction to a hereinafter described bobbin holding member 134, in which guide members 122 and 123 having different widths are positioned so as to be opposed to each other on the inside walls of a bobbin preparation case to prevent the intermingling of the empty bobbins facing in opposite directions. The bobbins which have been arranged in the bobbin preparation case in the aforementioned manner are then fed to the bobbin holding means which holds the bobbins and feeds them to the spindles. In this case, however, it is necessary that the several bobbin holding means are on each occasion supplied from the aforesaid case with one bobbin each. For accomplishing this purpose, the empty bobbins are delivered successively and with certainty from the case to the holding means by a means shown in FIGS. 19 and 20. Since the foregoing bobbin preparation case is without a bottom, on its underside is disposed a sliding member 132 having passages 131 at given intervals (spindle interval) and further on the underside of this sliding member a bobbin holding member 134 (hereinafter described) is provided facing upwardly. Thus, when sliding member 132 is slidably moved, its passages 131 become positioned below the bobbins in the bobbin preparation case 121 to allow the bobbins to drop into the passages 131. Then, when by slidably moving the sliding member 132 the passages 131 are positioned above receiving troughs 133 of bobbin holding member 134, the bobbins in passages 131 drop into the receiving troughs 133.

The empty bobbin holding means illustrated in FIGS. 21 and 22 is for holding the bobbins delivered from the bobbin preparation case and to hold them until the bobbins are mounted to the spindles by the hereinafter described bobbin mounting means.

The several bobbins which have been introduced into the plurality of receiving troughs 133 provided in the bobbin holding member 134 by means of the abovedescribed delivery means are pressed against the inner walls of the several receiving troughs 133 with the heads 143 of push rods 142 as a result of the sliding movement of sliding member 141.

In accomplishing this pressing, since a spring 145 has been installed between each head 143 and its bracket 144, the several bobbins can be held with certainty though there may be differences in the gaps between the several bobbins and the troughs receiving them.

Further, the foregoing bobbin holding member 134, is attached to cross-links 154, which are rotated by the angular rotation of a shaft 153, and is adapted to be swung over the spindles after the full-wound bobbins have been extracted from the spindles by the aforementioned full-wound bobbin extraction means (see FIG. 23). A cam lever 152 contacts a peripheral edge of a cam 151 which is rotated by dofling driving shaft 15 and the rotation of the cam 151 makes a shaft 153 carry out an angular displacement of the bobbin holding member 134 in a direction indicated by an arrow by way of the cross-links 154, 155. Further a cam 156 secured to the same rotating shaft as the cam 151 actuates a cam lever 157 the end of which is connected with a wire 158 and releases the pressure on the empty bobbins by loosening the wire 158 when the bobbin holding member 134 swings to be positioned perpendicularly above the spindles, thereby to make the empty bobbins fall onto the spindles.

Lifting lever oscillatory means In order to wind on the spun yarn to the bobbin with certainty and to prevent the breakage of yarn by adjusting the uneven tension and snarls when starting up the spinning machine on which have been mounted the empty bobbins. Usually a spinning machine is provided with a lifting lever 169 to move the ring rail of said machine up-and-down. Said lifting lever 169 is manually oscillated at the time of starting of movement to move said ring rail up-and-down, thereby to prevent the cutting of yarns at the time of starting of the movement. The present ADM is also provided with a lifting lever oscillatory means for oscillating vertically a lifting lever for oscillation of a ring rail upwardly and downwardly (see FIG. 24).

The oil under pressure from a source of oil under pressure (not shown) reaches the pistons of cylinder 164 by means of oil pipes 162, 162' and 163, 163' via a valve mechanism 161. Piston rod 165 projecting from cylinder 164 and capable of reciprocative movements is provided at its distal portion with a rack which meshes with pinion 167 which is mounted on the same shaft as lever 166. In concomitance with the rotation of pinion 167 by the reciprocative movement of piston rod 165, the distal portion 168 of lever 166 is adapted to make pressing contact with the top of pedal 170 of lifting lever 169. Thus, by feeding oil under pressure to the valve mechanism 161 and adjustment thereof to eflect the inflow and outflow of the oil in the pipes 163, 163 the distal portion 168 of lever 166 is reciprocated up and down to oscillate the lifting lever 169 between the full line and dash line positions. This lifting lever oscillatory means is installed in ADM at one side of the spinning machine and by electrically connecting ADMs on both sides of the spinning machine it is adapted to function after receiving a signal, indicating the completion of the bobbin exchanging operation of all the spindles by ADM on the opposite side.

What is claimed is:

1. An automatic bobbin dofling machine adapted to travel step-by-step along the front of a spinning machine, twisting machine or the like, for doifing a group of fully would bobbins from a group of spindles and for mounting a group of empty bobbins on such group of spindles, said machine comprising driving means for driving said machine in stepwise fashion along the spinning machine, yarn manipulating means coupled to said driving means for manipulating the yarn, yarn severing means coupled to said driving means for severing the end yarn, bobbin kicking means coupled to said driving means for kicking a group of fully wound bobbins up olf the spindles, bobbin extracting means coupled to said driving means for extracting the fully wound bobbins of the group from the spindles, empty bobbin arranging means above said bobbin extracting means and coupled to said driving means for making a preparatory arrangement of a group of empty bobbins prior to donning the empty bobbins on the spindles, bobbin mounting means coupled to said driving means and positioned adjacent said empty bobbin arranging means for receiving the group of arranged spindles from said empty bobbin arranging means and swinging them over said spindles and dropping them onto the spindles, a bobbin case below said bobbin extracting means, and a bobbin movement damping means between said bobbin extracting means and said bobbin case for damping the movement of the fully wound bobbins between said extracting means and said bobbin case so as to place the fully wound bobbins gently into said bobbin case.

2. A machine as claimed in claim 1 in which said bobbin movement damping means comprise a plurality of flexible elements hung downwardly into said bobbin case, means at the bottoms of said flexible elements for drawing said bottoms of pairs of said flexible elements toward each other, and winding means .at the tops of said flexible elements from which said flexible elements are suspended and coupled to said driving means for winding said flexible elements up step by step as the bobbin case is filled up.

3. A machine as claimed in claim 2 in which said flexible elements are flexible sheets, and the means at the bottoms of the flexible elements are magnets.

4. A machine as claimed in claim 2 in which said flexible elements are rows of flexible cords, and the means at the bottoms of said flexible elements are magnets on the bottoms of the individual cords of the cords in the rows, all of the cords in a row being hung from a single winding means, and adjacent rows of cords in adjacent pairs of rows of cords being suspended from a common winding means.

5. A machine as claimed in claim 1 further comprising level control means for controlling the level of said machine, said level control means comprising hydraulic cylinders, rods coupled to said cylinders, wheels supporting said machine and mounted on the ends of said rods, level sensing means engaging the spinning machine, level adjusting valves coupled to said level sensing means and actuated thereby and controlling flow of hydraulic fluid to said hydraulic cylinders, and source of hydraulic fluid coupled to said cylinders through said valves.

6. A machine as claimed in claim 1 in which said bobbin kicking means comprises kicking levers movable toward and away from the spinning machine and engageable between the bobbins and the spindle whorls and lifting the bobbins away from the spindles while holding the spindle whorls down, and means for moving said levers coupled between said driving means and said levers and comprising means for holding said levers engaged with said spindle whorls until empty bobbins have been positioned on the spindles.

7. A machine as claimed in claim 1 and further comprising an oscillating lever on said machine and engageable with the lifting lever actuating the ring rail 0n the spinning machine for preventing yarn breakage when starting up the spinning machine after completion of the dofling operation.

8. A machine as claimed in claim 7 in which means are provided for oscillating said lever and comprise a piston and cylinder means having a piston rod, a rack on the free end of the piston rod, a pinion on said lever coaxial with the rotational .axis of said lever, said rack being engaged with said pinion, and means for supplying hydraulic fluid to said piston for reciprocating said piston rod when the dofling operation is completed.

9. A machine as claimed in claim 1 in which said means for manipulating the yarn comprise a lever pivotally mounted on the machine, a rod on the tip of said lever, said lever being pivotable to swing the end having the rod thereon toward the spindles to manipulate the yarns and swing during the extraction of the bobbins to push the bottoms of the bobbins toward the bobbin movement damping means.

10. A machine as claimed in claim 1 in which said bobbin extraction means comprises a pair of juxtaposed sliding members, each of said members having a plura-lity of protrusions thereon for engaging the bobbin, the members being slidable to move pairs of the protrusions composed of a protrusion on one member and a corresponding protrusion on the other member toward each other with a bobbin between the protrusions of each pair engaged by the protrusions of the pair.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,077,725 2/ 1963 Du Buis et al. 57-53 JOHN PETRAKES, Primary Examiner. 

1. AN AUTOMATIC BOBBIN DOFFING MACHINE ADAPTED TO TRAVEL STEP-BY-STEP ALONG THE FRONT OF A SPINNING MACHINE, TWISTING MACHINE OR THE LIKE, FOR DOFFING A GROUP OF FULLY WOULD BOBBINS FROM A GROUP OF SPINDLES AND FOR MOUNTING A GROUP OF EMPTY BOBBINS ON SUCH GROUP OF SPINDLES, SAID MACHINE COMPRISING DRIVING MEANS FOR DRIVING SAID MACHINE IN STEPWISE FASHION ALONG THE SPINNING MACHINE, YARN MANIPULATING MEANS COUPLED TO SAID DRIVING MEANS FOR MANIPULATING THE YARN, YARN SERVERING MEANS COUPLED TO SAID DIRVING MEANS FOR SEVERING THE END YARN, BOBBIN KICKING MEANS COUPLED TO SAID DRIVING MEANS FOR KICKING A GROUP OF FULLY WOUND BOBBINS UP OFF THE SPINDLES, BOBBIN EXTRACTING MEANS COUPLED TO SAID DRIVING MEANS FOR EXTRACTING THE FULLY WOUND BOBBINS OF THE GROUP FROM THE SPINDLES, EMPTY BOBBIN ARRANGING MEANS ABOVE SAID BOBBIN EXTRACTING MEANS AND COUPLED TO SAID DRIVING MEANS FOR MAKING A PREPARATORY ARRANGEMENT OF A GROUP OF EMPTY BOBBINS PRIOR TO DONNING THE EMPTY BOBBINS ON THE SPINDLES, BOBBIN MOUNTING MEANS COUPLED TO SAID DRIVING MEANS AND POSITIONED ADJACENT SAID EMPTY BOBBIN ARRANGING MEANS FOR RECEIVING THE GROUP OF ARRANGED SPINDLES FROM SAID EMPTY BOBBIN ARRANGING MEANS AND SWINGING THEM OVER SAID SPINDLES AND DROPPING THEM ONTO THE SPINDLES, A BOBBIN CASE BELOW SAID BOBBIN EXTRACTING MEANS, AND A BOBBIN MOVEMENT DAMPING MEANS BETWEEN SAID BOBBIN EXTRACTING MEANS AND SAID BOBBIN CASE FOR DAMPING THE MOVEMENT OF THE FULLY WOUND BOBBINS BETWEEN SAID EXTRACTING MEANS AND SAID BOBBIN CASE SO AS TO PLACE THE FULLY WOUND BOBBINS GENTLY INTO SAID BOBBIN CASE. 